Korean Festival

I found it very interesting that none of my Korean friends knew about the annual Korean Festival in LA.  Nor did they have any interest in checking it out.  I guess because we live next to the giant that is Ktown - everyday we drive through it's like a Korean Festival.

But I was glad to check that off the list.  (Still need to celebrate Holi - Indian Festival of Colors and the Brazilian Festival that I missed earlier in the year.

Never seen Kim Chi in bulk like this before.  There were so many Kim Chi samples!  Lots of other foods too, but I couldn't read the signs... those circles and lines... is it the food item or price?  It's like hieroglyphic binary code.

Old man planning beer pong, free clay pot (the line was too long), floral crafts and a B-BOI competition.

Check out this giant white person. "ME WANT EXOTIC FOOD."

We continued our explore heading toward Northern Ktown where we found Zion Market nested in the middle of korean shopping mall.  I concluded that as you get more north, Ktown becomes nicer and expensive.  South of Wilshire Ktown is more hood - where Koreans and Mexicans fight for parking space.

We sampled this duk bok gi, loved it, and made it that night by adding ramen.  YUM!

Oh... Koreatown Pho is always suspicious.  Pho 24 also offers authentic Vietnamese gyoja and chow fun.  STFU.

Elements of a Successful Karaoke Nights

There's always something about karaoke that some people hate.  The songs were boring, they are self conscious, people are mic hogs, but we managed to overcome all of that during our Diva Karaoke night by making sure that we achieved the essential elements.

1. Alcohol
Can't do karaoke without being loosened up?  Max Studios in Little Tokyo was so lenient.  We "snuck" 6 bottles of soju and a 12 pack of beer in reusable bags.  We made sure we cleaned up and weren't too rowdy so that we weren't blacklisted.

2. Current Songs - Max Studios also prides itself in keeping up to date.  They had Rebecca Black's Friday.   Our group was really diverse.  Folks put in rock, dance, musicals, 90's R&B, pop all good energy.

3. Performing Divas - Dab won the diva award that night with his reenactment of the Little Mermaid while singing "Part of Your World."  Situated on a rock in the ocean, see Dab lift his tail yearning to have legs.

Tommy got runner up feeling the music.  First call out.

Andrew and Jlo's rendition of "Marry You" by Bruno Mars was pretty epic as well.  Channeling Glee. Really committed to this song! Awwww worthy.

4. All Sing - You have to pass the mic and put in songs that everyone will sing to.  We even got some shy ones to shine.  If you're gonna chip in for the room, you best sing a song!   Journey, Seasons of Love, Disney songs are all winners.  And because we went with a big group - 1.5 hours = $12 a person.

5. Share the Mic - If everyone looks bored while you're singing - cut it short!  We managed to be considerate of everyone's time.

At one point, there was a spill and I brought in a mop and danced with it while people sung songs from Wicked.

After party

No Rice Crunch Spicy

Think spicy, crunchy, crabby, eel sauce and no carbs.  This thing melts in your mouth.

Thank you Sushi Enya, I've been looking for a monster sushi roll place for a while.  MMmMMmm.

Fashion Night Out

Really didn't know what Fashion Night out was... because I'm not much about fashion.  Ended up at the Beverly center grabbing free champagne and desserts from the stores.  Watched really tall people walk up and down a stage with bored facial expressions wearing clothing that looked uncomfortable.... i think they call it a runway show??? whatever, it was boring.

Why?

High five you get this reference!  Click HERE if you don't.

Bien stole the shot

what a stud

blurry, but I like it

Labor Day!

I'm like the reverse of retail - two holidays behind.

Just some pictures I wanted to share:

Cindy eating bulot for the first time

Bulot in taglog, Hot vit lon in Vietnamese is duck fetus that has formed in the egg... there are feathers... it is disgusting.

Typical

love these ppl

Didn't want kisses that night

I have three cowlicks... this is the result... it's an ugly chunk of hair that just hangs there disrupting the flow of my hair style.  No hairdresser knows how to properly manage it. 

Wasps!

Back in September we discovered a little group of wasps forming by the door.  The internet said to wait at night before exterminating so that the bees are sleeping.

We put on our safety gear and prepared for attack.

I used a lucha libre mask, swim googles and scarf.  Sam used a net and put it on his head.  Here we go...




To our amazement, the poison shot 20 feet.  We were prepared for attack, but the bees just fell to the ground.  Sort of anticlimactic.  But just in case, we had all escape routes ready.  The hall smelled like raid for a week.

I guess we were being a little dramatic... it looks scarier in person:

Adobo Shots

Last night we went to a potluck.  Ern made amazing chicken adobo.  It was so good, I took shots of it.